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History (302)
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NES Profile: History (302)
NES Profile: History (302)
Overview
This NES Profile provides information about the test, including the approximate percentage of the total test score
derived from each content domain. The complete set of the content domains, the test framework, is provided here
and contains all of the competencies and descriptive statements that define the content of the test.
This NES Profile includes the following materials:
the test competencies associated with each content domain
a set of descriptive statements that further explain each competency
sample test questions aligned to the competencies
any applicable reference materials, as noted below
Test Field
Test Format
Number of Questions
Test Duration
Reference Materials
Key
History (302)
Multiple-choice questions
Approximately 150
Up to 3 hours
None required
Approximate
Percentage of Test
Content Domain
Range of
Competencies
12%
I. Historiography
0001–0002
18%
II. World History to 1450
0003–0005
23%
III. World History 1450 to the Present
0006–0009
23%
IV. U.S. History Precontact to 1877
0010–0013
23%
V. U.S. History 1877 to the Present
0014–0017
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NES Profile: History (302)
Content Domain I: Historiography
Read the excerpt from Senator Margaret Chase Smith's 1950 speech "Declaration of Conscience" below;
then answer the questions that follow.
I think that it is high time for the United States Senate and its members to do some soul-searching—for us
to weigh our consciences—on the manner in which we are performing our duty to the people of America—
on the manner in which we are using or abusing our individual powers and privileges. . . .
Those of us who shout the loudest about Americanism in making character assassinations are all too
frequently those who, by our own words and acts, ignore some of the basic principles of Americanism:
The right to criticize;
The right to hold unpopular beliefs;
The right to protest;
The right of independent thought.
The exercise of these rights should not cost one single American citizen his reputation or his right to a
livelihood nor should he be in danger of losing his reputation or livelihood merely because he happens to
know someone who holds unpopular beliefs. Who of us doesn't? Otherwise none of us could call our souls
our own. Otherwise thought control would have set in. . . .
The American people are sick and tired of seeing innocent people smeared and guilty people whitewashed.
But there have been enough proved cases, such as the Amerasia case, the Hiss case, the Coplon case,
the Gold case, to cause the nationwide distrust and strong suspicion that there may be something to the
unproved, sensational accusations.
2
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NES Profile: History (302)
Competencies:
0001 Understand historical concepts, terms, sources, and perspectives.
Descriptive Statements:
Demonstrate knowledge of basic historical terms and concepts such as nation-state, theocracy, dynastic
cycle, collectivization, globalization, modernization, chronology, and periodization.
Apply knowledge of basic reference sources used in historical research, including information technology,
bibliographies, periodical guides, encyclopedias, and biographical dictionaries.
Distinguish between primary and secondary sources of historical information.
Evaluate the uses and limitations of various historical source materials, including oral histories,
newspapers, diaries, artifacts, probate data, tax lists, personal correspondence, census data, videos,
audio recordings, and materials accessed through information technologies.
Analyze important historical interpretations and how historical interpretations change over time.
Analyze the purpose and perspective of diverse sources of historical information, including potential bias
and the assumptions on which historical arguments are based.
Sample Item:
A historian of the post–World War II anticommunist crusade in the United States would most likely
use the excerpt from Senator Margaret Chase Smith's speech to help answer which of the following
questions?
A. What impact did the anticommunist crusade have on everyday life in the United States?
B. How did influential figures react to the major developments of the anticommunist crusade?
C. Which constitutional rights were commonly violated during the anticommunist crusade?
D. What were the fundamental values of U.S. society that were threatened by the anticommunist
crusade?
Correct Response and Explanation
D. This question requires the examinee to analyze important historical interpretations. Views expressed in
the excerpt focus attention on the threat that abuses of power by Senator Joseph McCarthy and other
anticommunist demagogues posed to basic American principles.
0002 Understand historical research skills.
Descriptive Statements:
Analyze cause-and-effect relationships between historical events and developments.
Recognize central theses, main ideas, and supporting evidence in various sources of historical
information.
Distinguish between fact and opinion in historical narratives and interpretations.
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NES Profile: History (302)
Draw inferences and conclusions from historical texts and interpretations.
Interpret historical issues represented in graphic formats, including charts, diagrams, maps, political
cartoons, and graphs.
Sample Item:
Which of the following best describes the main argument of the excerpt from Margaret Chase
Smith's speech?
A. Many U.S. citizens hold or know someone who holds unpopular beliefs.
B. Unfounded accusations have undermined the constitutional principles of the United States.
C. Extraordinary events justify the suspension of some civil liberties in the United States.
D. The U.S. Senate must change the manner in which it conducts its everyday responsibilities.
Correct Response and Explanation
B. This question requires the examinee to recognize the central theses, main ideas, and supporting
evidence in various sources of historical information. In this excerpt, Smith argues that labeling people
"un-American" for holding or expressing unpopular beliefs is directly contrary to the rights of free expression
guaranteed by the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.
4
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NES Profile: History (302)
Content Domain II: World History to 1450
Competencies:
0003 Understand the development of early civilizations to 500 BCE.
Descriptive Statements:
Examine the Neolithic Revolution and the birth of human civilization, including the growth of agriculture,
the domestication of animals, social differentiation, economic specialization, political organization, and the
emergence of towns.
Analyze major geographic, social, political, economic, and cultural characteristics of early civilizations in
Mesopotamia and the Near East, including Sumer, Babylonia, the Assyrian Empire, Hittite civilization, the
Hebrew kingdoms, and Phoenicia.
Analyze major geographic, social, political, economic, and cultural characteristics of early civilizations in
North Africa and the Mediterranean, including the Egyptian, Minoan, and Mycenaean civilizations.
Analyze major geographic, social, political, economic, and cultural characteristics of early civilizations in
Asia, Africa, and the Americas, including the Shang and Zhou dynasties of China, the Indus and Aryan
cultures of India, the African kingdom of Kush, and the Olmec civilization of Mesoamerica.
Examine major population movements and commercial and cultural interactions within and between
Eurasia, Africa, and the Americas from 4000 to 500 BCE.
Demonstrate knowledge of significant developments of the period, including bronze-making and ironmaking technology, the invention of plows, the domestication of horses, the construction of ships, the use
of written records, and the advent of monotheistic religion.
Recognize chronological relationships between major global events and developments of the period.
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NES Profile: History (302)
Sample Item:
The lightly shaded region on the map above marks the territory controlled by which of the following
ancient civilizations?
A. the Hittites
B. the Babylonians
C. the Persians
D. the Phoenicians
Correct Response and Explanation
B. This question requires the examinee to analyze major geographic, social, political, economic, and cultural
characteristics of early civilizations in Mesopotamia and the Near East. Beginning in about 1600 BCE and
continuing for 400 years, the Babylonian Empire under the Kassites extended some 400 miles upstream
from the mouths of the Tigris and Euphrates, embracing six major cities and the rich farmlands that
surrounded them on either side of the two rivers.
0004 Understand the classical Mediterranean world and the development of world civilizations from 500 BCE to
500 CE.
Descriptive Statements:
Examine the evolution, characteristics, and contributions of ancient Greek civilization.
Analyze major events, developments, characteristics, and contributions of ancient Roman society and the
formation, expansion, and decline of the Roman Empire.
Examine major geographic, social, political, economic, and cultural characteristics of Iranian, Indian, and
Chinese civilizations, including the Persian Empire, the Mauryan and Gupta empires, the beliefs and
practices of Brahmanism, the Qing unification of China, Han government and expansion, and the
influence of Confucianism and Taoism in China.
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NES Profile: History (302)
Examine major geographic, social, political, economic, and cultural characteristics of civilizations in Africa
and the Americas during the period, including the formation of Sudanic trading kingdoms, the Bantu
migrations, and Mayan science, religion, and society.
Demonstrate knowledge of the principal beliefs, sacred texts, and historical development of Judaism,
Christianity, Hinduism, and Buddhism.
Recognize chronological relationships between global events and developments of the period.
Sample Item:
Which of the following is a central belief of Buddhism?
A. The forces of good and evil are in an endless struggle for control of the universe.
B. Human beings can avoid suffering by eliminating their desire for material goods and physical
pleasures.
C. The welfare of a community depends on the religious devotion of its members.
D. Salvation can be attained only through absolute obedience to an all-powerful deity.
Correct Response and Explanation
B. This question requires the examinee to demonstrate knowledge of the principal beliefs, sacred texts, and
historical development of Buddhism. According to Buddhist teachings, because all things—whether material
objects or human beings—are transitory, desire for them will inevitably produce suffering. Only when human
beings can rid themselves of desire can they escape discontent and suffering and attain happiness.
0005 Understand major developments in world history from 500 to 1450.
Descriptive Statements:
Examine major geographic, social, political, economic, and cultural characteristics of the Byzantine
Empire, including Justinian's conquests and legal reforms; the role of the Orthodox Church in Byzantine
society; the work of Byzantine artists, architects, and scholars; and the influence and decline of Byzantine
civilization.
Analyze major geographic, social, political, economic, and cultural characteristics of Islamic civilization,
including the principal beliefs of Islam, the expansion of Islamic civilization, the growth of Muslim
commerce, the work of Islamic scholars, and disunity and division within the Muslim caliphate.
Analyze major social, political, and economic developments in Europe during the period, including the
emergence of feudalism, the role of the Catholic Church in medieval civilization, the contributions and
experiences of the Jewish people, the creation of the Holy Roman Empire, the rise of Russian civilization,
the Crusades, the Black Death, and the Hundred Years' War.
Examine major political, social, economic, and cultural developments in India, China, Japan, and
Southeast Asia, including the Muslim-Hindu encounter in India, Tang government and culture, the Sung
commercial revolution, Japanese feudalism and the rise of the samurai, and the Indianization of
Southeast Asia.
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NES Profile: History (302)
Demonstrate knowledge of major features of Mongol society and developments related to the Mongol
invasions, including Mongol political structure and military tactics; the leadership of Genghis Khan;
Mongol rule in China, Russia, Korea, and Southwest Asia; and the effect of the Mongol invasions on
relations between Europe and Asia.
Examine the geographic, political, economic, and cultural characteristics of major civilizations in Africa
and the Americas during the period, including the spread of Islam south of the Sahara; the rise and
decline of the Ghana, Mali, and Songhai empires; the emergence of Swahili culture and commerce; Aztec
religion and society; and Incan government and expansion.
Recognize chronological relationships between major global events and developments of the period.
Sample Item:
Which of the following was the most important factor in the growth and expansion of the West
African kingdoms of Ghana, Mali, and Songhai between 600 and 1600 CE?
A. the incorporation of Islamic religion and culture
B. large and well-trained military forces
C. the control of trans-Saharan trade routes
D. charismatic political and religious leaders
Correct Response and Explanation
C. This question requires the examinee to examine the geographic, political, economic, and cultural
characteristics of major civilizations in Africa. Control of trans-Saharan trade routes enabled major West
African kingdoms to obtain the wealth needed to support government officials and maintain armies in their
expanding empires.
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NES Profile: History (302)
Content Domain III: World History 1450 to the Present
Competencies:
0006 Understand major developments in world history from 1450 to 1750.
Descriptive Statements:
Examine the origins, major developments, significant individuals, and consequences of the European
Renaissance.
Analyze the causes and consequences of the Protestant Reformation, including the role of leading
reformers, the response of the Catholic Church, and the religious wars of the sixteenth century.
Analyze European expansion between 1450 and 1750, including the factors that encouraged European
exploration and conquest and the impact of European colonization on Europeans and the indigenous
societies they encountered.
Examine patterns of continuity and change among major civilizations of Asia and Africa between the
fifteenth and eighteenth centuries, including the Ottoman, Safavid, and Mughal empires of Southwest
Asia; the Ming and Qing dynasties of China; the Warring States and Tokugawa eras in Japan;
Portuguese and Dutch penetration of southern Africa; and the growth and consequences of the
transatlantic slave trade.
Analyze major political developments in Europe, including the consolidation of nation-states, the growth of
absolutism, and the emergence of parliamentary monarchy during the sixteenth and seventeenth
centuries.
Demonstrate knowledge of major figures of the Scientific Revolution, including Nicolaus Copernicus,
Galileo Galilei, Francis Bacon, and Isaac Newton, and the impact of their discoveries on the development
of the modern world.
Analyze central ideas of major thinkers of the European Enlightenment and their influence on events and
developments in Europe and the Americas.
Recognize chronological relationships between major global events and developments of the period.
Sample Item:
Which of the following best describes a major incentive for European exploration of the world during
the late fifteenth century?
A. the strategic advantage of introducing military forces into the Pacific
B. the new markets to be created by establishing colonies outside of Europe
C. the social benefits of settling excess population in the Americas
D. the profits to be made by importing costly luxury goods from India and China
Correct Response and Explanation
D. This question requires the examinee to analyze European expansion between 1450 and 1750.
Europeans launched their voyages of exploration in part to circumvent the Muslim monopoly on trade
between the Indian Ocean and Europe. So great was the demand for scarce luxury goods such as spices,
sugar, and silk from India and China that a single shipload was worth a fortune in European ports.
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NES Profile: History (302)
0007 Understand major developments in world history from 1750 to 1900.
Descriptive Statements:
Analyze the causes, major events, similarities, differences, and consequences of the American and
French revolutions, including significant individuals and events in the wars for independence in Latin
America.
Evaluate economic, social, and political factors related to the emergence and spread of industrialization in
Europe, including the role of Great Britain in the industrializing process; the growth of urban centers; the
environmental impact; the transformation of family and social relations; and major technological
innovations, economic theories, political responses, and social reforms of the industrial era.
Examine major political developments, reform movements, and military conflicts in Europe during the
nineteenth century, including the Napoleonic wars, the Congress of Vienna, the growth of liberalism, the
Chartist movement in Great Britain, the revolutions of 1848, the Crimean War, the rise of nationalism, and
Italian and German unification.
Analyze major causes, events, developments, and consequences of European imperialism, including
motives and justifications for the pursuit of colonial empires; the structure of colonial societies; rivalries
and conflicts between colonial powers; and interactions between imperialist powers and the peoples of
Asia, Africa, and the Middle East.
Examine major political developments and military conflicts in East Asia during the period, including the
Opium Wars, the Taiping Rebellion, the failure of reform in China, the Boxer Rebellion, the Meiji
Restoration, and the Sino-Japanese War of 1894–1895.
Demonstrate knowledge of major literary, artistic, intellectual, and scientific developments of the period in
Europe, Asia, and the Americas.
Recognize chronological relationships between major global events and developments of the period.
Sample Item:
Simón Bolívar played which of the following roles in the Latin American wars of independence?
A. He financed many of the early revolutionary organizations in Latin America.
B. He organized and led an army that freed parts of South America from Spanish rule.
C. He formed a union of independent states that extended from Mexico to Argentina.
D. He secured vital military and economic aid from Spain's European adversaries.
Correct Response and Explanation
B. This question requires the examinee to analyze significant individuals and events in the wars for
independence in Latin America. Simón Bolívar formed and commanded an army that defeated Spanish
forces from Venezuela to Peru and ended Spain's efforts to retain its empire in the Americas.
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NES Profile: History (302)
0008 Understand major developments in world history from 1900 to 1945.
Descriptive Statements:
Analyze the origins, major events, and consequences of World War I, including the prewar alliance
system, nationalist tensions in the Balkans, strategies and tactics of the principal combatants, major
battles of the war, the Treaty of Versailles, and the breakup of the Austro-Hungarian and Ottoman
empires.
Analyze major social and economic developments in Europe during the period, including changing
patterns of leisure and consumption, the introduction of radio and film, post–World War I debt and
reparations problems, German inflation, and the Great Depression of the 1930s.
Examine events and developments related to major revolutionary movements of the early twentieth
century, including the Mexican Revolution, the Chinese Revolution of 1911, the Russian Revolution, the
creation of the Irish Free State, the rise of nationalism in Africa and Southeast Asia, and Indian resistance
to British rule.
Assess the causes, major events, and consequences of the rise of totalitarian and authoritarian regimes
in Russia, Germany, Italy, Spain, and Japan.
Analyze the origins, major events, and consequences of World War II, including Nazi and Japanese
aggression, the Munich Conference, the Nazi-Soviet pact, major battles of the war, the Holocaust, the use
of the atomic bomb, and the formation of the United Nations.
Demonstrate knowledge of major literary, artistic, intellectual, and scientific developments of the period in
Europe, Asia, Africa, and the Americas.
Demonstrate knowledge of major world political figures of the first half of the twentieth century, including
David Lloyd George, Georges Clemenceau, V. I. Lenin, Sun Yat-sen, Mohandas Gandhi, Mustafa Kemal
Atatürk, Leon Trotsky, Josef Stalin, Benito Mussolini, Adolf Hitler, Winston Churchill, and Chiang
Kai-shek.
Recognize chronological relationships between major global events and developments of the period.
Sample Item:
Which of the following correctly lists two related events of the twentieth century in the order in
which they occurred?
A. 1. World War I
2. the growth of European imperialism
B. 1. the Chinese civil war
2. the fall of the Qing dynasty
C. 1. the Cold War
2. the Russian Revolution
D. 1. the start of the Great Depression
2. the rise of Nazism in Germany
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NES Profile: History (302)
Correct Response and Explanation
D. This question requires the examinee to recognize chronological relationships between major global
events and developments of the period. The Great Depression began in 1929, creating massive
unemployment and economic distress. The economic hardships produced new recruits for the Nazi Party in
Germany and led to Adolf Hitler's election as chancellor in 1933.
0009 Understand major developments in the modern world from 1945 to the present.
Descriptive Statements:
Analyze the causes, major events, and consequences of the Cold War, including U.S.-Soviet differences
concerning Eastern Europe, ideological confrontation, the Berlin Blockade, the creation of NATO and the
Warsaw Pact, the nuclear arms race, détente, and the collapse of the Soviet Union.
Analyze major events, developments, and issues related to the process of decolonization in postwar Asia,
Africa, and the Middle East, including the economic and political challenges faced by new nations.
Analyze major political, social, economic, and cultural developments in Europe since World War II,
including postwar reconstruction; the establishment of democratic institutions in former fascist nations; the
adoption of welfare-state reform programs; changing patterns of work, leisure, and gender relations;
immigration and demographic change; and the creation of the European Union.
Examine major political, social, economic, and cultural developments in East Asia, including the Chinese
Cultural Revolution, the reconstruction of postwar Japan, and the economic emergence of South Korea
and Taiwan.
Assess patterns of change and stability in Latin America, including revolutions in Cuba, Chile, and
Nicaragua; the persistence of traditional elites; the integration of Latin America into the world economy;
and relations with the United States.
Examine the causes and consequences of major regional conflicts in Europe, Asia, Africa, the Middle
East, and the Americas since World War II.
Demonstrate knowledge of major world political figures of the post–World War II era, such as Mao
Zedong, Charles de Gaulle, Gamal Abdel Nasser, Ho Chi Minh, Nikita Khruschev, Juan and Eva Perón,
Golda Meir, Kwame Nkrumah, Fidel Castro, Margaret Thatcher, Nelson Mandela, and Mikhail Gorbachev.
Analyze major global challenges of the late twentieth and early twenty-first centuries, including
environmental degradation, terrorism, human rights abuses, limited natural resource supplies, and
economic imbalances and social inequalities among the world's peoples.
Demonstrate knowledge of major literary, artistic, intellectual, and scientific developments of the period in
Europe, Asia, Africa, and the Americas.
Recognize chronological relationships between major global events and developments of the period.
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NES Profile: History (302)
Sample Item:
The Chinese Cultural Revolution (1965–1976) can best be described as:
A. a religious movement to revive ancient Confucian values in China.
B. a popular movement to modernize the Chinese economy.
C. a political movement to revitalize the communist revolution in China.
D. a nationalist movement to expand Chinese territory.
Correct Response and Explanation
C. This question requires the examinee to examine major political, social, economic, and cultural
developments in East Asia. A central objective of leaders of the Chinese Cultural Revolution was to revive
the original enthusiasm and spirit of the communist revolution by purging the nation of what Mao Zedong
called the "Four Olds": old thoughts, old customs, old habits, and old culture.
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NES Profile: History (302)
Content Domain IV: U.S. History Precontact to 1877
Competencies:
0010 Understand major developments in early U.S. history from the precontact period to 1763.
Descriptive Statements:
Demonstrate knowledge of important social, economic, political, and cultural features of major Native
American peoples of the precontact period.
Examine major events and developments related to the European exploration of North America, including
the objectives of various explorers, the consequences of key expeditions and settlements, and
competition and conflict between European colonial powers.
Analyze coexistence and conflict between Europeans, African Americans, and Native Americans,
including the varied cultural perspectives of each group.
Compare similarities and differences between the New England, mid-Atlantic, and southern colonies, as
well as similarities and differences between English, French, and Spanish colonies, including reasons for
migration to North America, ethnic diversity, and patterns of social and economic development.
Examine major conflicts of the colonial period, including Bacon's Rebellion, King William's War, King
George's War, and the French and Indian War.
Analyze major economic, social, political, and cultural developments in the colonies, including the
influence of the triangular trade on colonial economic development, the growth of slavery, the role of
colonial assemblies and the emergence of representative government, the Great Awakening and the
evolution of religious freedom, and economic and political relations with Great Britain.
Demonstrate knowledge of important individuals who influenced colonial development, such as John
Smith, John Winthrop, Roger Williams, Anne Hutchinson, William Penn, James Oglethorpe, and Chief
Pontiac.
Analyze how various groups contributed to the emergence of a distinct American society, such as the
Puritans, the Baptists, the Quakers, women, colonial merchants, African Americans, and Native
Americans.
Recognize chronological relationships between major events and developments of the colonial period.
Sample Item:
One important difference between Virginia and Massachusetts during the late seventeenth century
was that colonists in Virginia:
A. governed themselves through a representative assembly.
B. permitted the practices of slavery and indentured servitude.
C. relied heavily on the production of cash crops for export to Europe.
D. engaged frequently in armed conflicts with Native Americans.
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Correct Response and Explanation
C. This question requires the examinee to compare similarities and differences between the New England,
mid-Atlantic, and southern colonies. Unlike the more diversified but less prosperous economy of late
seventeenth-century New England, in which trade, fishing, and general agriculture all had an important
share, Virginia's economy relied heavily on the sale of a single crop, tobacco, in European markets.
0011 Understand the origins and events of the American Revolution and major developments of the early national
period to 1801.
Descriptive Statements:
Analyze the causes of the American Revolution, including the influence of Enlightenment thought on
Americans, changes in British imperial policy following the French and Indian War, arguments over the
rights of English people, the Stamp Act crisis and the Townshend Acts, the Boston Tea Party and the
Intolerable Acts, and efforts to achieve colonial cooperation.
Examine major events, developments, and consequences of the Revolutionary War, including American
and British strategies, the roles and perspectives of various groups during the war, major battles of the
conflict, economic issues arising out of the Revolution, and the effects of the Revolution on various social
groups.
Demonstrate knowledge of major principles and ideas contained in key political documents of the
American Revolution and early national period, including the Declaration of Independence, the Articles of
Confederation, the Northwest Ordinance, the Federalist Papers, and the U.S. Constitution and Bill of
Rights.
Analyze the evolution of national and state government during and after the Revolution, including
arguments over the Articles of Confederation, the creation of state constitutions, differences between
Federalists and Anti-Federalists, Shays's Rebellion, major debates and compromises at the Constitutional
Convention, and the struggle for ratification of the Constitution.
Demonstrate knowledge of major figures of the Revolutionary era and early national period, such as
George Washington, Samuel Adams, Thomas Paine, Benjamin Franklin, James Madison, Abigail Adams,
Daniel Boone, Alexander Hamilton, and Thomas Jefferson.
Analyze major events and developments during the presidential administrations of George Washington
and John Adams, including the emergence of political parties, the Whiskey Rebellion, Hamilton's fiscal
program, Washington's Farewell Address, relations with European nations, the Alien and Sedition Acts,
and the presidential election of 1800.
Recognize chronological relationships between major events and developments in U.S. history during the
period.
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NES Profile: History (302)
Sample Item:
The French and Indian War most contributed to growing tensions between Great Britain and its
North American colonies during the 1760s by:
A. prompting royal governors to increase the size of colonial militias.
B. provoking calls for the reorganization of colonial governments.
C. hindering economic development in British North America.
D. increasing Great Britain's already sizable national debt.
Correct Response and Explanation
D. This question requires the examinee to analyze the causes of the American Revolution. Although Great
Britain eventually prevailed in the French and Indian War, the cost was substantial. The various taxes that
Parliament imposed after the war in an effort to reduce the national debt provoked first intermittent and then
sustained resistance in the colonies and led ultimately to open rebellion against the Crown.
0012 Understand major developments in U.S. history from 1801 to 1850.
Descriptive Statements:
Analyze events and developments related to westward expansion, including major territorial acquisitions,
government-sponsored exploration of the West, factors encouraging migration, economic motives and
ideological and religious justifications, the challenges faced by settlers, and the impact of westward
settlement and growth on Native American peoples.
Analyze the causes and consequences of economic growth during the period, including improvements in
transportation, technological innovations, the spread of factory production, immigration and urbanization,
the panics of 1819 and 1837, and the effect of industrialization on different regions and social groups.
Examine major events and developments in U.S. foreign relations during the period, including the War of
1812, the Monroe Doctrine, and the Mexican War.
Examine major political and constitutional developments of the period, including Jeffersonian
Republicanism, John Marshall and the Supreme Court, the decline of the Federalist Party, the emergence
of Jacksonian democracy, debates over the tariff and the national bank, the Nullification Crisis, and
differences between the Democratic and Whig parties.
Demonstrate knowledge of the removal of Eastern Native Americans to lands west of the Mississippi
River and the resistance of Native Americans to forced resettlement.
Analyze events and developments related to the spread of slavery during the period, including the role of
slavery in southern society, forces encouraging the expansion of slavery, the emergence of a distinctive
African American culture, slave resistance, the development of pro-slavery arguments, and the influence
of slavery on national politics.
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NES Profile: History (302)
Examine the origins and objectives of major reform movements of the period and the activities and
achievements of key reformers, such as William Lloyd Garrison, the Grimké sisters, Sojourner Truth,
Frances Wright, Robert Owen, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Horace Mann, and Dorothea Dix.
Demonstrate knowledge of major literary, artistic, intellectual, and scientific developments of the period
and the beginnings of a distinctly American literary and intellectual culture.
Recognize chronological relationships between major events and developments in U.S. history during this
period.
Sample Item:
In the decisions he wrote as chief justice of the U.S. Supreme Court, John Marshall made a major
effort to:
A. strengthen the authority of the central government.
B. support the economic development of the nation.
C. expand the personal liberties of U.S. citizens.
D. increase popular participation in the political process.
Correct Response and Explanation
A. This question requires the examinee to examine major political and constitutional developments of the
period from 1801 to 1850. A major effect of important decisions of the Marshall Court, such as McCulloch v.
Maryland (1819) and Gibbons v. Ogden (1824), was to expand the "implied powers" of the federal
government at the expense of the states.
0013 Understand the origins, course, and consequences of the Civil War and Reconstruction from 1850 to 1877.
Descriptive Statements:
Analyze similarities and differences in the economies, cultures, and social structures of the North, South,
and West in the period preceding the Civil War.
Examine major political developments of the 1850s that contributed to the sectional polarization leading to
the Civil War, including the Compromise of 1850, the Kansas-Nebraska Act, the disruption of the second
American party system, the Dred Scott decision, John Brown's raid at Harpers Ferry, and the presidential
election of 1860.
Analyze major events and developments of the Civil War, including the leadership provided by Abraham
Lincoln, strategies adopted by Union and Confederate military leaders, major battles and diplomatic
initiatives, wartime draft riots, the Emancipation Proclamation, and the election of 1864.
Examine the roles and perspectives of various groups during the war, including immigrants, African
Americans, women, Northern businessmen, antiwar Democrats, and Southern planters and farmers.
Assess the costs and consequences of the Civil War, including human casualties and physical
destruction, the impact of the war on African Americans and women, the response of former slaves to
emancipation, the rise of sharecropping in the South, and the development of a one-party political system
in the former Confederacy.
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NES Profile: History (302)
Analyze key events and developments of the Reconstruction period, including alternative programs for
Reconstruction; the assassination of Abraham Lincoln; conflict between President Johnson and
Congress; the passage of the Thirteenth, Fourteenth, and Fifteenth Amendments; the establishment of
the Freedman's Bureau; the programs of radical state governments in the South; Southern White
resistance to Reconstruction; the role of the U.S. Supreme Court; and the Compromise of 1877.
Examine major social, economic, and political developments during the Civil War and Reconstruction
eras, including homestead and land grant legislation enacted by Congress during the war, the
construction of the first transcontinental railroad, postwar conflict between the U.S. Army and Native
Americans, and the woman suffrage movement.
Demonstrate knowledge of significant figures of the Civil War and Reconstruction eras, such as Harriet
Tubman, Frederick Douglass, Harriet Beecher Stowe, Stephen A. Douglas, John Brown, Jefferson Davis,
Ulysses S. Grant, William T. Sherman, Robert E. Lee, Clara Barton, Andrew Johnson, Thaddeus
Stevens, and Charles Sumner.
Recognize chronological relationships between major events and developments in U.S. history during this
period.
Sample Item:
The Kansas-Nebraska Act of 1854 contributed to the growing sectional conflicts that culminated in
the Civil War by provoking national debate over which of the following issues?
A. the emancipation of slaves in the northern states
B. the prohibition of the internal slave trade
C. the expansion of slavery into the western territories
D. the enforcement of the Fugitive Slave Act
Correct Response and Explanation
C. This question requires the examinee to examine major developments of the 1850s that contributed to the
sectional polarization leading to the Civil War. The Kansas-Nebraska Act provoked a storm of controversy
by opening up the possibility of allowing slavery in western territories that had been declared free states as
part of the Missouri Compromise 34 years earlier.
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NES Profile: History (302)
Content Domain V: U.S. History 1877 to the Present
Competencies:
0014 Understand major developments in U.S. history from 1877 to 1914.
Descriptive Statements:
Examine the settlement of the trans-Mississippi West, including the mining, ranching, and farming
frontiers; the impact of technological developments (e.g., the telegraph, the railroad, barbed wire); and the
effects of expanding settlement on Native American peoples.
Analyze the growth of the industrial economy, including the rise and consolidation of industrial and
financial empires, the results of technological and managerial innovations, and the conflict between
industrial capitalism and organized labor.
Examine changing patterns of immigration to the United States between 1880 and 1910, and the impact
of immigration and urbanization on U.S. society.
Analyze the rise of the New South; the disenfranchisement and segregation of, and violence against,
African Americans; and the efforts of African Americans such as Booker T. Washington, W. E. B. Du Bois,
and Ida B. Wells to overcome the social, economic, and political obstacles that confronted them.
Examine the emergence of the United States as a world power, including the Spanish-American War,
U.S. intervention in Asia and Latin America, and key issues in the debate over U.S. expansionism.
Compare the origins, goals, strategies, and influence of the Populist and Progressive movements.
Demonstrate knowledge of major political and social developments and influential figures of the period,
including Tatanka Iyotake, Mark Twain, Grover Cleveland, Andrew Carnegie, J. P. Morgan, Madam C. J.
Walker, Samuel Gompers, William Jennings Bryan, Jane Addams, William McKinley, and Theodore
Roosevelt.
Demonstrate knowledge of major literary, artistic, intellectual, scientific, and technological developments
in the United States between 1877 and 1914.
Recognize chronological relationships between major events and developments in U.S. history during this
period.
Sample Item:
Electric power most influenced developments in which of the following components of the U.S.
economy during the late nineteenth century?
A. the distribution of consumer goods
B. agricultural production
C. the consolidation of large industries
D. long-distance communication
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NES Profile: History (302)
Correct Response and Explanation
D. This question requires the examinee to analyze the growth of the industrial economy in the United States.
The electronic transmission of clear speech via telephones revolutionized communication in the United
States by reducing the need for face-to-face conversations. At the same time, continuing improvements in
telegraphic technology contributed to further advances in long-distance business communication.
0015 Understand major developments in U.S. history from 1914 to 1945.
Descriptive Statements:
Analyze the causes and consequences of U.S. participation in World War I, including reasons for U.S.
entry into the conflict, the mobilization of public opinion, the impact of U.S. intervention on the war's
outcome, and the effect of the war on U.S. society.
Examine major events and developments of the 1920s, including the growth of a consumer economy, the
Red Scare, prohibition, the resurgence of the Ku Klux Klan, immigration restriction, passage of the
Nineteenth Amendment, nonconformity and dissent, the Great Migration, the Harlem Renaissance, and
the presidential administrations of Warren G. Harding, Calvin Coolidge, and Herbert Hoover.
Evaluate the causes of the Great Depression, the response of the Hoover administration and Franklin D.
Roosevelt's New Deal to economic collapse and social dislocation, the ascendancy of the Democratic
Party, critics of the New Deal, and the effects of the Depression on the American people.
Analyze major issues and developments in U.S. foreign policy between 1914 and 1941, including
Woodrow Wilson's Fourteen Points, the fight over the League of Nations, relations with Latin America,
isolationism and neutrality, and the events leading to World War II.
Examine major events and developments related to U.S. participation in World War II, including war
mobilization, the internment of Japanese Americans, U.S. military and diplomatic strategy, major battles
involving U.S. forces, the impact of the war on the U.S. economy and society, and the decision to drop
the atomic bomb.
Demonstrate knowledge of major figures of the period, such as Charles Lindbergh, Marcus Garvey,
Eleanor Roosevelt, Frances Perkins, Huey Long, Dwight D. Eisenhower, and George C. Marshall.
Demonstrate knowledge of major literary, artistic, intellectual, scientific, and technological developments
in the United States between 1914 and 1945.
Recognize chronological relationships between major events and developments in U.S. history during this
period.
Sample Item:
Examining which of the following features of the U.S. economy during the 1920s would be most
helpful in analyzing the causes of the Great Depression?
A. interest rates on business loans
B. wages and purchasing power
C. tariffs on manufactured goods
D. government regulation and taxes
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Evaluation Systems, Pearson, P.O. Box 226, Amherst, MA 01004
NES Profile: History (302)
Correct Response and Explanation
B. This question requires the examinee to evaluate the causes of the Great Depression. One cause of the
Great Depression was underconsumption. During the 1920s, as wage increases lagged behind advances in
industrial productivity, consumers reached a point where they lacked the purchasing power to absorb the
vast flow of goods pouring off the assembly lines of manufacturing firms. Without continuing consumer
demand, inventories choked business growth and set in motion a chain of events that led to economic
collapse.
0016 Understand major developments in U.S. history from 1945 to 1970.
Descriptive Statements:
Analyze major events and developments of the Cold War, including the Marshall Plan; the Truman
Doctrine; McCarthyism; containment policy and the domino theory; the formation of NATO; the Korean
and Vietnam wars; U.S. intervention in Africa, Latin America, and the Middle East; atomic diplomacy; the
Cuban missile crisis; and the effect of the Cold War on the U.S. economy and society.
Analyze major social and economic developments of the period, including postwar reconversion, the
postwar economic boom, suburbanization, the baby boom, the expansion of higher education, the
construction of the Interstate Highway System, the rise of the Sunbelt, the impact of television, and the
emergence of a youth culture.
Examine major political events and developments in the United States between 1945 and 1970, including
Harry S. Truman's Fair Deal, Dwight D. Eisenhower's Modern Republicanism, John F. Kennedy's New
Frontier, Lyndon B. Johnson's Great Society, the Supreme Court under Chief Justice Earl Warren, and
important electoral contests and legislative initiatives of the period.
Examine the aims, activities, strategies, and achievements of the struggle for African American civil
rights, including Brown v. Board of Education, the Montgomery bus boycott, civil disobedience, the sit-in
movement, the Birmingham and Selma campaigns, the enactment of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the
Voting Rights Act of 1965, and the Black Power movement.
Demonstrate knowledge of social and political activism during the period, including the feminist
movement, the American Indian Movement, the Hispanic rights movement, the Asian American
movement, the New Left, the counterculture, the gay liberation movement, and the environmental
movement.
Demonstrate knowledge of major figures of the period, such as Douglas MacArthur, George F. Kennan,
Thurgood Marshall, Rachel Carson, Robert Kennedy, Barry Goldwater, Rosa Parks, Martin Luther
King Jr., Malcolm X, Betty Friedan, and César Chavez.
Examine major developments in literature, the arts, popular culture, science, and technology in the United
States between 1945 and 1970.
Recognize chronological relationships between major events and developments in U.S. history during this
period.
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NES Profile: History (302)
Sample Item:
Which of the following statements best describes the significance of the Supreme Court's 1954
decision in Brown v. Board of Education?
A. It overturned the doctrine of "states' rights" that had sanctioned discriminatory voting qualifications.
B. It outlawed the use of racial quotas in employment.
C. It overturned the doctrine of "separate but equal" that had sanctioned segregation in public education.
D. It outlawed the use of race as a qualification for public office.
Correct Response and Explanation
C. This question requires the examinee to examine the aims, activities, strategies, and achievements of the
struggle for African American civil rights. In Brown v. Board of Education (1954), the Supreme Court
declared that "[s]eparate educational facilities are inherently unequal," thereby overturning the legal basis for
racial segregation established in Plessy v. Ferguson (1896).
0017 Understand major developments in U.S. history from 1970 to the present.
Descriptive Statements:
Examine major political events and developments in the United States since 1970, including Richard
Nixon and the Republican ascendancy in the South, Watergate, the decline of liberalism and rise of the
conservative movement, the Iran-Contra scandal, the impeachment of Bill Clinton, significant Supreme
Court decisions, and important electoral contests and legislative initiatives of the period.
Analyze major issues and developments in U.S. foreign policy since 1970, including détente with China;
the end of the Cold War; the Camp David Accords; the Iran hostage crisis; the Persian Gulf War; the
events of September 11, 2001; and the Afghanistan and Iraq wars.
Assess the impact of major economic developments of the period affecting the United States, including
the oil embargoes of the 1970s, stagflation, deindustrialization and the shift toward a service economy,
the decline of organized labor, Reaganomics, information technology and the computer revolution, the
stock market boom of the 1990s, the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), and economic
globalization.
Evaluate major social developments of the period, including demographic change and population shifts,
continuing struggles for equal rights, the growth of religious influence in politics, environmental and
consumer advocacy, changing patterns of immigration, rising homelessness, and increased disparities in
income and wealth.
Demonstrate knowledge of major figures of the period, such as Jimmy Carter, Jesse Jackson, Ronald
Reagan, Sandra Day O'Connor, Jerry Falwell, George H. W. Bush, Bill Gates, Oprah Winfrey, Alan
Greenspan, George W. Bush, Hillary Clinton, and Barack Obama.
Demonstrate knowledge of major literary, artistic, intellectual, scientific, and technological developments
in the United States from 1970 to the present.
Recognize chronological relationships between major events and developments in U.S. history during this
period.
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Evaluation Systems, Pearson, P.O. Box 226, Amherst, MA 01004
NES Profile: History (302)
Sample Item:
Which of the following best describes a goal of U.S. foreign policy in both the Gulf War and the Iraq
War?
A. to install democratically elected governments in the Middle East
B. to prevent the production and proliferation of biological and nuclear weapons in the region
C. to expel Iraqi military forces from other Middle Eastern nations
D. to stabilize the region and secure the continued flow of oil to the United States and Europe
Correct Response and Explanation
D. This question requires the examinee to analyze major issues and developments in U.S. foreign policy
since 1970. Iraq's invasion of Kuwait in 1990 directly threatened the uninterrupted flow of Middle East oil to
the world's industrial nations. Twelve years later, disputes between the Iraqi government and the United
Nations over international inspections for weapons of mass destruction led to Iraqi threats to cut off oil
shipments to Europe and the United States, while the removal of Hussein from power offered the possibility
of greater access for the United States to Iraq's vast oil reserves.
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